The Global Media Site for Entertainment.
Menu
One of the reasons I was attracted to the arts and culture as a young man was that—for someone with no wealth and no preexisting connections—it seemed like one of the only routes I could take to attain any voice in our culture. A public voice might be used for a wide variety of communications, from the silly to the sublime, the trivial to the weighty, all of which have value. It is the duty of artists to provide a good laugh, a good release, a good jam to dance to on the weekend but it is also the duty of artists to reflect the struggles of our time, both large and small.
The notion that through illumination and exploration of one another’s stories, we might gain a better understanding of our own human experience. In so doing, many of us found our minds opened, repeatedly, to stories and lives that didn’t look like ours. In fact, many of us gravitated towards the arts out of a sense of calling—to tell the stories that most need telling, and to heal wounds in our society.
It is with these things in mind that I write today, to declare:
It is our task to use whatever access to the culture we have gained to spread the word that injustice and inhumanity will not stand. We have achieved our standing in the world by communicating ideas, and in times of darkness, we must serve as beacons of light, as voices against the current.
As I write this today, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is conducting a series of raids around the United States (my country), to round up and arrest immigrants—most of whose only “crime” is being here. As I write this, the same organization is holding thousands of asylum-seekers (who are largely driven to our nation by political circumstances of our own making) in brutal, inhumane prison camps, starved of nutrition, sanitation, and basic human dignity. [Our Vice President toured the camps a few days ago and used it as an opportunity to declare that the real problem at our border is not the deeply cruel imprisonment, but simply the fact that we need more of those prisons in operation.]
As I write this, children are still separated from their families, through no fault of their own, many of whom will never be reunited with their parents. As I write this, there is a 2-year-old (the same age as my own daughter, who is napping upstairs) being forced into a courtroom—or worse, into a video-chat “court”—to hear adults ask questions she does not understand (in a language she may not even speak) and then proclaim that she will be sent away from everyone she has ever known and loved.
I have heard, over and over again, people say “these are not our children”, or “their parents shouldn’t have tried to cross illegally”, as methods of trying to assuage the conscience of the nation and convince us that we aren’t complicit in this great evil, that we’re just obeying due process of a kind, and it’s really OK, we should go back to enjoying the latest billion-dollar franchise picture. I love a good action movie, but passively entertaining ourselves while people are being tortured in our names doesn’t sit well with me.
I live about as far from the Mexican border as you can get in the continental US, but I grew up only 2 hours from the Mexican border in Southern California. I can tell you from a life spent knowing and loving Latinx people (and art!) what should be obvious to anyone with a heart—these are human beings.
Just like us, these refugees contain multitudes—some are undoubtedly bad people, but most are also undoubtedly just regular humans, trying to do the best they can every day to be good in a difficult world. These are our children. Every last one of them. What we are doing, as a nation, is wrong, it is cruel, and it must stop.
To anyone already using their voice to decry this benighted age—bravo! To those wondering how best to do so, I offer some meager suggestions: for those who write, write about this (and about all of the great wrongs of our time); write articles and essays, plays and films and television programs, anything you can. For those who do not write, there are other avenues. One of my lines of work is in consulting and design—I declare here and now that I will not work on any project for ICE, for any of the companies complicit in ICE’s operations, or for any organization that dehumanizes people as part of its operations. I urge you to join me—don’t work for them.
If you are able, make a donation to organizations working every day for justice. Even if all you can do is spread the word on social media—every bit helps. You may be called (and you may feel like) a snowflake—tiny and inconsequential—but the thing about snowflakes is that enough of them together becomes an avalanche. Together, we can change the culture. When we change the culture, we can change the world.
Organizational Culture: Inclusion isn’t a Policy, it’s a Practice
Performing Arts and Overworked Staff: Let’s Not Pretend We’re Okay
Josh Loar is a sound, lighting, video, and control system designer who has designed projects all over the world, from theaters, to concerts and festivals, to corporate events and conventions, to theme parks. Josh has worked as a professional designer for more than 20 years. He has designed and engineered systems for clients including Walt Disney Imagineering, Lotte Group, Busch Gardens, and more. He is the author of "The Sound System Design Primer", available from Focal Press/Routledge. He is co-chair and co-author of the upcoming ESET (Essential Skills for Entertainment Technicians) test in audio. He is chair of the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) Sound Graphics Working Group, working on issuing new and more comprehensive documentation standards for theatrical sound paperwork. Josh is an accomplished FOH (Front-of-House) and recording engineer, having worked with artists including Paul Simon, David Byrne, Mos Def, Rickie Lee Jones, Charlie Haden, Philip Glass, and many, many more. He is an educator who has been teaching at the university level for nearly a decade, at Yale School of Drama and now at Michigan Technological University. He is also a multimedia artist, musician, producer, director, and creator of lots of different kinds of weird art.
Read Full Profile
© 2021 TheatreArtLife. All rights reserved.
Thank you so much for reading, but you have now reached your free article limit for this month.
Our contributors are currently writing more articles for you to enjoy.
To keep reading, all you have to do is become a subscriber and then you can read unlimited articles anytime.
Your investment will help us continue to ignite connections across the globe in live entertainment and build this community for industry professionals.
